Ownership of SMSF investments

Who to record as the owner of assets

Your self-managed super fund (SMSF) must be the legal owner of all fund assets.

Investments must be held separately from any personal or business assets.

By keeping the ownership separate, you are:

• protecting the assets from creditors
• preventing disputes over proof of ownership.

Insurance should also be in the name of the SMSF.

Recording SMSF ownership

Depending on your SMSF's structure, where possible, fund assets should be held in the name of either:

• the individual trustees 'as trustees for' the fund – for example, 'Micah and Grace Tari as trustees for the Tari Family Super Fund'
• the corporate trustee 'as trustee for' the fund – for example, 'ABC Pty Ltd as trustee for the Tari Family Super Fund'.

Assets that can't be held in the SMSF's name

Some state and territory laws may prevent your SMSF from holding assets using the fund's name.

If assets can't be held in the SMSF's name, fund ownership must be clearly established. You can do this by either:

• executing a caveat
• creating an instrument or declaration of trust.

Trustees should seek legal advice about how they can do this.

If possible, documents such as sale agreements should be executed in the name of the trustees 'as trustees for' the SMSF.

If other situations prevent holding assets in the SMSF's name, such as share trading accounts that don't allow multiple trustees to be listed, document the names of all individual trustees in your fund's records as owners of the shares.

If trustees join or leave the SMSF

If an individual trustee joins or leaves your SMSF, you must change the names on the ownership documents for each fund asset. Document this change in your records, along with clear evidence to support the SMSF's ownership of the asset.

If you have a corporate trustee structure and there is a change in directors, you don't need to change the names on the SMSF's ownership documents. This is because the corporate trustee of the SMSF has not changed.

Limited recourse borrowing arrangements

If your fund uses a limited recourse borrowing arrangement (LRBA) to purchase an asset, the asset is held in a separate trust outside of the SMSF to ensure the other fund assets are protected if the loan defaults.

If the asset is:

• currently under an LRBA, the holding trust must be listed as the owner
• no longer under an LRBA, the SMSF must be listed as the owner.